


Drummer Boy

by teeandrainbows



Category: Julie and The Phantoms (TV)
Genre: Alex has so much anxiety, Canon Compliant, Christmas Fluff, Established Relationship, Fluff and Angst, M/M, so so so so so much anxiety, the rest of the band are ridiculously supportive
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-25
Updated: 2020-12-25
Packaged: 2021-03-11 00:41:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,777
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28326240
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/teeandrainbows/pseuds/teeandrainbows
Summary: Alex has the perfect gift prepared for Willie for Christmas, but his nerves keep getting in the way leading up to the big day.
Relationships: Alex Mercer/Willie (Julie and The Phantoms)
Comments: 10
Kudos: 126





	Drummer Boy

**Author's Note:**

> Hello JatP+Willex fandom! This is my first JatP fic, and my first time writing these characters, but I really wanted to do something cute for Christmas with them!
> 
> Hope you enjoy!

As Christmas draws near, Alex frets.

He’s like a broken record player, a repeated chorus of “Do you think he’ll like it? Is it too much? Is it not enough?”

(To which Reggie and Luke have perfectly rehearsed responses: “He’s gonna love it, ‘Lex. It’s the perfect gift, and it’s gonna be great.”)

(Luke’s more than a little annoyed he didn’t think of it before Alex, but he loves his bandmate too much to dwell on it.)

Despite the reassurances from his bandmates, Alex still poofs into Julie’s room at least half a dozen times during the first week after he comes up with the idea to confer with her. He trusts Julie’s opinion, after all, and besides, she likely knows more about what Willie would be expecting, since, of course, he still has the 90s mindset. Julie tells him the same things Luke and Reggie do, though, and Alex swears he can feel his heartbeat slow down, despite the obvious ghost thing.

That is, until he sees Willie again, and the anxiety begins to bubble to the surface once more until Alex has to make some stupid excuse. Band practice, or going to haunt Bobby again.

He can tell Willie is starting to get worried about him, and that only heightens his fears, that what he has planned won’t be good enough. That, even though logically he knows Willie would never do it, his boyfriend will laugh.

So he frets.

The week before Christmas, it gets worse. During a band rehearsal, practicing an original Christmas song Julie and Luke wrote together that is the epitome of every romantic Christmas song Willie has introduced him to, Alex stops playing altogether, poofing out of the room before anyone can ask him what’s wrong. Reggie finds him later, sitting on the marquee outside the Orpheum, legs dangling over the edge, his head in his hands, trying to control his breathing.

Reggie sits beside him and, to his credit, his friend doesn’t say a word for the first few minutes. He simply sits beside Alex with his hand on his back, gently rubbing circles with his thumb. Luke poofs in shortly after and sits with on the other side of him, his hand on Alex’s knee.

“Look, he cares a lot about you,” Luke says finally. Alex lifts his head from his hands, glancing sideways at him and letting out a shaking breath.

“Yeah, you could probably get him like, a toothbrush and he’d swoon over you,” Reggie chimes in, adding an “ow!” afterwards as Luke reaches behind Alex and punches his shoulder.

“What you came up with is special, though. It’s something he’ll remember more than anything else,” Luke says, patting Alex’s knee. “And you know we’re here to support you.”

Alex closes his eyes and tries to imagine his happy place - the museum where he and Willie had spent what he considers to be their first date. After a moment, he nods.

“Okay,” he says, opening his eyes and glancing left and right, his lips tugging in the tiniest of smiles in either direction.

Luke grins and Reggie lets out a woop, and they both shake Alex by the shoulders in a show of affection, and Alex manages a chuckle.

It’s hard to imagine a life or an afterlife without them.

“C’mon, Julie’s waiting back at the studio,” Luke says before poofing away.

Reggie’s giving him an expectant look and Alex chuckles meekly before poofing away, before his friend, and they return to the studio.

Julie rises to her feet when he appears in front of her, rubbing the back of his neck.

“Everything okay?” she asks, her eyes searching his.

Alex summons the energy to give her a wider smile, one that reaches his eyes and makes her beam back at him in her typical ray of sunshine way. “Yeah,” he breathes, picking up his drumsticks. “Let’s get to work.”

When Christmas is only two days away, Alex gets a rush of self-confidence and meets Willie at the park. It’s a clear, sunny day, and the smile on his boyfriend’s face when they see each other is enough to make Alex’s ghost heart skip a beat. He practically floats the rest of the way, throwing his arms around Willie.

“Hey,” he breathes, stepping back. Willie’s still beaming at him, and it only makes the smile on Alex’s face grow wider.

“You’re in a good mood today,” Willie comments, taking Alex’s hand in his. “What’s up?”

He can’t exactly tell Willie it’s because he finally thinks he’s ready to give him his present, that he finally doesn’t go into a panic every time he thinks about it, so Alex settles on another truth.

“Tonight’s the night we’re doing the Christmas live show online,” he says, swinging their arms back and forth as they walked down the path. It had been Flynn’s idea to write their own arrangements of a bunch of Christmas songs and perform them live just before Christmas.

Alex thinks it’s an amazing idea. He’s most excited about Little Drummer Boy.

Willie chuckles, brushing his hair back with his free hand. “Oh, right, I completely forgot about that. It’s gonna be amazing,” he says. “I can’t wait to watch you perform again. After last time, I couldn’t stop thinking about you behind the drum kit for days.”

Alex knows he should be swelling with pride. Instead, though, the dark cloud of worry starts to drift over him and he feels a lump in his throat. It’s completely unwarranted, he knows that. Willie likes watching him perform. He’s said so a number of times.

“Hey,” he hears Willie absently, breaking the spell, and glances sideways. “What’s up, Hot Dog?”

Alex shakes his head. “Nothing,” he lies, silently begging Willie not to question it.

Willie doesn’t. Of course he doesn’t. Even though Alex can tell he’s worried, Willie lets him explain things on his own time, and for that, Alex is more grateful than anything.

They walk around the park together, dropping the subject of the Christmas show and instead talking about random things.

The show is amazing, of course. When Flynn tells them their highest total views, Alex’s eyes nearly bug out of his head, and Luke and Reggie high five while Julie leans against the piano with a happy sigh. Little Drummer Boy was a hit, and Alex suspects their arrangement will become the popular one.

When things wind down, Julie finds him sitting at the piano, hitting one key over and over again. She sits next to him, putting her hand over his.

“Want to talk about it?”

“No.”

“He’s going to love it.”

“I know.”

Christmas finally arrives, and Alex’s nerves are at an all time high. The band exchanges gifts in the morning, and when it’s finally time to leave, Luke and Reggie are on either side of him.

“You’re gonna do great,” they promise, patting his back. “Tell him we say Merry Christmas!”

Alex agrees and poofs away, meeting Willie at the closed museum.

“Merry Christmas!” Willie exclaims the moment he lays eyes on him. Alex manages a grin, crossing the floor and embracing his boyfriend, repeating the greeting in a muffled whisper against Willie’s shoulder. Willie’s the one who initiates the kiss, and it’s enough to make Alex melt and almost forget why he had been nervous about this day for a month.

Almost.

When they part, Alex gazes into Willie’s dark eyes, his hands on his boyfriend’s shoulders.

“I, uh,” he starts, swallowing a lump in his throat. “I wasn’t sure what to get you for Christmas.”

Willie nods, lifting a shoulder. “It’s fine, really. Just seeing you without Caleb’s stamp and knowing you’re my boyfriend is enough,” he asserts, and Alex’s breath catches.

“I-- I know,” he says, trying to find the words. He had rehearsed this, of course, a number of times, with different members of the band standing in for Willie. Here, though, in the moment, it’s hard to remember what he had planned. “I did think of something, though.”

Willie locks eyes with him, cupping Alex’s face with a hand. “Oh, yeah?”

Alex nods. “I’ve been working on it all month,” he continues, positive his face is growing redder by the moment. “The others helped me, but I, uh…”

By now, the worried look is returning to his boyfriend’s eyes, and Alex hurries to get to the point.

“I’ll just start, now,” he blurts out, stepping away from Willie and pulling his drumsticks out of his pocket. There’s many flat surfaces to choose from in the museum, but Alex settles for the bench that still hasn’t been moved back to its original spot, beginning to tap out a rhythm on it.

And then he sings. He can’t write songs the way Julie or Luke can, but they had helped him all month, fine tuning the lyrics. The melody was all Alex, though, and as he sings, he feels the dark cloud slipping away. For two minutes, it’s just him and Willie, and nothing else in the world matters. The drumsticks in his hands help ground him while he sings, and he can’t help but notice the way his boyfriend’s expression softens, how he looks at him with what could only be described as hearteyes (a concept Julie had taught him about). Alex smiles as he sings, his confidence growing more and more by the second.

When he finishes, tapping out the last bit of the song with his sticks, Alex locks eyes with Willie as his boyfriend claps. “Merry Christmas,” he says, almost shyly.

Willie shakes his head, smiling. “That was incredible,” he says, stepping closer. “Thank you, so much.”

Alex reaches into his pocket, pulling out a piece of paper with the lyrics. “These are for you,” he adds, looking up at him. Willie takes the paper, scanning over it.

“I love it,” he says.

Alex blushes. “Really?”

Willie presses a soft and gentle kiss to his lips. “Of course I do,” he breathes, his face inches from Alex’s. “It’s the best gift I could have asked for.”

Alex smiles, throwing his arms around Willie and holding him tight for a moment. Then, Willie disentangles himself and grins sheepishly.

“And to think, all I got you was this.” He produces a gift bag and hands it over. Alex takes the bag, opening it and pulling out a brand new pair of drumsticks, and grins.

“I love it,” he says, glancing back up at Willie, all trace of his earlier nerves gone.

They spend the rest of the afternoon at the museum, talking and laughing, and Alex sings Little Drummer Boy for Willie. Willie loves it.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm so sorry but I really can't write songs, so I wasn't able to actually come up with the lyrics to the song Alex writes for Willie but feel free to imagine it yourself!


End file.
